jenius

Finally got my Luca review up. Click here to go there, sample pic below:

The VFCs aren't blind sets at all, they're guaranteed full sets with one bonus figure (in the first series) and guaranteed full sets with all three bonus figures in the second series.

No, according to Graham the factory workers were just told to be a lot more careful installing the pin which means the plastic isn't fatigued right off the bat (and probably the burr end isn't as fat) and that's why those don't seem to have a problem in comparison to the original VF-1S that had lots of broken shoulders.

I like that the 1/48 has the proper head position but I dislike the size (especially with all the packaging). The new 1/60s allow a lot more flexibility when it comes to display cases. As an added bonus, the 1/60s have fewer potential problems like wing flaps that fall off or loose airbrakes.

The best feature these toys could have are lower MSRPs. I can definitely live without removeable missiles or removeable missiles with additional features... although that does sound pretty cool.

Those super poseables have never been worth very much, I would open it and enjoy it. Minor rips on cardboard shouldn't be repaired, you'll just make things worse.

Last chance? You think HG is in economic trouble? They've survived off a trickle of residuals for this long, I would guess they're doing just fine unless they get themselves wrapped up with a ton of money borrowed to make a show that doesn't come out or tanks or something. As long as they're in a holding pattern they can probably stick around for quite a while.

I think there are a bunch of guys at WB that are essentially thinking they can get another Transformers style money-maker going. So they probably got the Kasdan script and said "What the hell, this is nothing like Transformers!" They then sent it to the younger guys and said "Hey, make Transformers out of this." That's my guess. If we're looking they go for the "Hey, make a slightly more mature Transformers out of this" but I think any movie like this has merchandising dollars written all over it so if you really want to dig into that potential you have to make a movie the kids keep wanting to see and wanting the toys to play with... I don't think we'll get anything too sexed up. I do hope I'm wrong, I hope instead WB goes for something aimed at adults with a PG-13 and the hope that the kids will love the flash enough to gobble it up. I also wonder if the title of the movie being ROBOTECH would hinder it? It just sounds so dated at this point.

I checked the RT forums to see what was said when Kasdan was dropped, found a direction to this site with this quote: http://www.canmag.com/nw/12820-robotech-mi...ar-alfred-gough

If Lawrence Kasdan did bail I doubt it has anything to do with HG, WB, or Robotech. I think it's more likely that he submitted a draft, collected a paycheck, and WB just didn't think the draft was guaranteed money so they continue their quest for more money.

Either James Cameron borrowed really heavily from those stories (like stole an entire scene) or a deal was cut just because it was going to cost less than a court battle. The spaceship crashing to Earth, humans learning from it, humans fighting aliens angle is a story line that existed before Macross and nobody sued Studio Nue.

The hurdle with Macross currently is how human culture screws-up the aliens attacking them. It'd be a simple matter to make a movie where an alien space ship crashes, humans get all sorts of tech from it, and the aliens show up to reclaim it and then get beaten back. Make that movie, even if the aliens are like 30' tall humanoids, and I don't think BW can complain in the least (you know, if all the characters are new and the mechs don't look familiar). Things don't get sticky until you have a little girl start singing and then all the aliens freak out, at that point you can easily identify it all as a Macross rip off rather than a rip off of many other alien crash stories. The trick for the writers at WB will be to come up with some other item that turns the tides against the alien and unites them in defending the humans.

Hit and miss. The BIG, really BIG, money goal is to make a series that creates a new fanbase. Trying to make RT for the constantly dwindling fanbase already out there would have likely foregone any ability to really grab that big dollar audience. RT:SC was crippled in that it had to try to appease the existing fanbase while attempting to go out and grab a whole new fanbase. Add to that the multitudes of fractures within the existing fanbase (the group that has a hard time looking past Macross, the fans of the other series, and what each potential group would like to see occur) to the intellectual property issues surrounding Macross and I think it's easy to say that RT:SC was starting off from an incredibly difficult conceptual spot. Unfortunately, RT:SC ends up being one apparently low budget compromise that really doesn't please many people since so many compromises were made. It seems likely that WB will not be so distracted by fan feedback as Tommy and crew were likely crippled with. WB is going to look at the property, ask itself "Where is the BIG money?" and then make a movie that appeals to the average American viewing audience and just hope those old fans come along for the ride.

It's the end of the Japanese fiscal year/beginning of a new one. It should be expected that at this time, pretty much every year, everything will slow down big time unless there are some products that were meant to make it in before the end of the year but got delayed. That's what somebody told me at least. I would expect kinda slow going for a couple months.

You know, Macross has an alternate universe, maybe we'll get an MIII some day, a sequel to MII that happens in that alternate universe. I'd be down for that.

I've tinkered with all my DXs a bit now. Unfortunately my Michel has the loosest crotch connector of the group. It poses well enough but definitely doesn't handle nearly as well as my other three DX toys. Getting him to stick together at the hip AND use the waist swivel takes a bit of dedication.

The fanliner is the plane Minmay wins and that Hikaru uses to escort her around Earth before the UN orders the SDF-1 back into orbit.

That mech we see for a split second having something in common with the VF-2SS, sure. The VF-25? No. If you look at the VF-1 and the VF-2SS you can see exactly where the VF-2SS comes from. If you look at the VF-1 and the VF-25 you can see a few little similariites. I think what you're seeing is some VF-1 in the VF-25 and attributing it to the VF-2SS instead of the proper source.

The crotch armor can stay on during transformation. I found that every time I left it on though I had a lot harder time getting things settled in fighter mode. Since it's completely concealed, I recommend just removing it in all non battroid modes. EDIT - since a number of people are having a hard time with it, I'm guessing it's one of those things where the clearances are so tight it might just be next to impossible to get it to work on some toys. Certainly if you're having problems keeping everything together in fighter mode, step one is to remove the crotch armor.

Great, now somebody at Yamato has fired up the airbrush machine to make an exclusive "weathering edition" VF-1D after seeing how well yours turned out.

NO! It's not the tail fins that need to be adjusted, it's the boosters on the wings. If it looks like your tail fins are behind the boosters than your boosters aren't attached properly to the spike.

Glad you liked the post. I do have Luca and Michael and am just about done putting Luca through his paces. I was thinking I'd post some other toy before Luca though so people didn't complain I was bludgeoning them with VF-25 reviews... Maybe I'll do Luca next and then do something else before putting Michael up.

Glad I could help! My review for the Alto parts just got published, here's a teaser pic: You can go directly to my post by clicking here.

You're thinking too hard about the Transformers. The original cartoon was about as dumb as it got and it was such a hit we're now getting dumb movies for it. If the movie was incredibly smart it probably would have been a failure.

Did HG ride the Transformers momentum to get their deal signed? If so, a big showing for Transformers 2 might help them keep it on life support.